Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty, Even as Many Say His Actions Saved Lives

James Buchanan, a St. Louis city deputy, pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter after killing a man in Spanish Lake

Sep 29, 2023 at 12:57 pm

RYAN KRULL

Deputy James Buchanan leaves the county courthouse today. Despite pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges, many say he's a hero.

A deputy with the St. Louis City Sheriff's Office pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter today in St. Louis County. The plea hearing lasted only about 20 minutes but was filled with tension, as Judge Ellen Ribaudo's courtroom was packed with both supporters of deputy James Buchanan as well as the family of the man he killed.

Buchanan's Alford plea means that he admits no wrongdoing but concedes prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him if the case were to go to trial. The whole matter has its roots in a carjacking in Spanish Lake on July 6, 2020.

That day, 71-year-old Stephen Burgett was with his grandson in the drive-thru of a McDonalds in Spanish Lake, getting ready to go on a fishing trip, when 27-year-old William Burgess suddenly began attacking Burgett through the window of his pickup truck.

"He comes through the window of my truck and stabs me in the chest with a screwdriver." Burgett tells the RFT.

Burgett says that his first reaction was to protect his grandson, who at the time was 10 years old. Then he started fighting off Burgess. Burgett says he was lucky because he was able to catch his attacker's hand just as he was being stabbed, preventing the screwdriver from penetrating too far into his chest.

"He was hitting me. I was hitting him," Burgett recalls. "He rolled out of the truck and he's on top of me."

Burgett thinks Burgess must have been high, noting that he hit his assailant in the head several times but Burgess seemed totally unfazed by the blows.

Burgess eventually climbed into the driver’s seat of Burgett’s pickup and started to drive away.

However, witnesses say Burgess did a u-turn and drove up on the sidewalk where Burgett and his grandson were standing.

Burgess plowed into Burgett with Burgett's own truck. "Tore this whole leg up. Up to my hip," Burgett says, as he shows off his scars outside the courtroom.

Burgett's grandson hid behind a tree, but Burgess sped toward him and crashed the truck into the tree. Burgett says his grandson, now 13, still has nightmares about the day.

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RYAN KRULL

Stephen Burgett recounts the carjacking he and his grandson were victims of.

Burgett is convinced the 27-year-old was trying to kill him and his grandson and would have done so if not for Buchanan, the sheriff’s deputy who happened to be driving by.

Buchanan was on his way to work at the sheriff's office when he saw Burgess flee the scene on foot after crashing the truck into the tree. Buchanan gave chase. What exactly transpired is unclear, but the deputy followed Burgess between two houses and shot the 27-year-old in the left abdomen, killing him.

Buchanan was originally charged with second-degree murder in October 2021, but prosecutors lowered the charges to involuntary manslaughter. Buchanan will serve three years’ probation, during which time he'll be barred from owning a firearm or ammunition.

Burgess' mother, Erinn Wicks, spoke at the hearing today, saying that she felt the man who took her son's life ought to get a stiffer sentence. "Mr. James Buchanan, I would like to know how you chase someone down and shoot him? Why did you have to get involved?" she said. She accused Buchanan of "trying to be a hero."

She acknowledged her son had issues, but said, "Did he deserve to die?" No."

At the hearing, members of Burgess' family had signs memorializing their dead loved one. As they left the courtroom, there was a heated exchange of words between Wicks and Sara Buck, the mother of the boy whom Burgess allegedly tried to run over outside the McDonald’s (and Burgett’s daughter).

Wicks left the courtroom after the exchange, leaving Buck to be chastised by Judge Ribaudo.

"Do you want to go to jail today?" the judge asked Buck, telling her there couldn't be any additional outbursts.

Ribaudo said that she understood Wicks' son had done wrong, but he lost his life and Wicks lost a son. The judge added that Buck’s father had already been through a horrible experience, and there wasn't any reason to make a tragedy any worse than it already was.

Outside the courtroom, Burgett tearfully hugged Buchanan and thanked him, seemingly not for the first time.

"He shouldn't be here," Burgett said of the man he's convinced saved his life. Of Buchanan’s guilty plea, he said, "It's an atrocity. He did his job."

Sheriff Vernon Betts, who was in court today, has stood steadfastly behind Buchanan. Sources close to the Sheriff's Office indicate Buchanan will remain employed there, though he will not be able to use firearms during his period on probation.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include that Buchanan's plea today was an Alford plea.